Technical Field
The invention relates to printing. More particularly, the invention relates to a method and apparatus for variable gloss reduction.
Description of the Background Art
Currently, many of the toner based print engines suffer from a limitation in that they produce glossy images as a result of the inherent toner properties and fusing process. As the toner pile height increases, the toner must be melted into an almost liquid state for sufficient adherence to paper. The liquid state of the toner results in a very smooth surface for high coverage regions of the page. This smooth surface, in turn, has a high specular reflection that is objectionable in some applications and to some users. Competitive presses, such as those that use offset lithography and those that use, for example, HP Indigo liquid toner, yield a low gloss and therefore have a market advantage.
Some manufactures, including Xerox, attempt to reduce the gloss of the melted toner by changing the toner formulation to solidify in a less smooth form. This suffers from at least the following limitations:
1) There is marginal gloss reduction;
2) The press can only produce two levels of gloss corresponding to which toner formulation is installed;
3) It is expensive and time consuming to switch between toners because the machine must be set up differently and all toner of one type extracted before the other formulation is installed; and
4) The two different toner formulations must be stocked in the supply chain.